How design can change the way people think

26 Feb 2009

The open invitation to visit their W+K Delhi offices was the cherry on the top of the presentation by Mohit Jayal and V Sunil on the opening day of the 2009 Design Indaba - repeatedly cited as the most respected and clouty conference of its kind in the world.

It's not just about images and objects… designers are showing how they can play their part in bringing about massive changes of thinking and behaviour - challenging their corporate class and Bollywoodised image of India as dysfunctional and counter-productive and offering solutions to social change via their work.

The most classic example of which is the change in the identity presented of India as a tourist destination via their Incredible !ndia campaign. The most striking of which is the image of a tiger in a temple - featuring the headline - Not all Indian are polite hospitable and vegetarian - or the pic of extreme white water rafting with the line - "Don't panic, there's always rebirth" - both subtly mirroring a truer Indian mindset by unequivocally blowing away any former images of obsequious maharajas and other dated Indian tourism material and succeeding in increasing tourism by 6%.

Dynamics of the agency-client relationship and revenue streams also shift, with work for contemporary airline IndiGo - www.GoindiGo.in - seeing a partnership arrangement from the advertising revenues generated via the in-flight magazine and another in which a deal with VH1 sees the funky sound track developed for their Nokia's GPS ads went to no.4 on the Indian charts - showing how "if everybody sees it the right way, you can bring something into popular culture".

Also worth mentioning are their insights from campaigns for Royal Enfield motorcycles and P&G - moving away from the stereotypical to the real, with commercial imagery that cleverly unites rather than being alienating or elitist.